Summer strolls on Tacoma’s waterfront just got an upgrade, cold and in a cone
When Wide Awake Cafe moved into the hut at Les Davis Pier last year, many among us wondered how we ever lived without coffee mid-Ruston Way stroll. Apparently Tacomans also wanted something colder — something frozen, perhaps in a cone or a cup with a wooden spoon.
Ask and you shall receive, in this case.
The coffee shop announced mid-June that in addition to drinks made with beans from Dillano’s in Sumner, it would scoop ice cream during the high season.
“We’ve all seen the forecast so it’s the perfect time to tell you our little secret,” the shop wrote on Instagram June 11. “Hand scooped ice cream now available at our Ruston Way location all summer long.”
Commenters responded to the news with affirmation.
“This feels like the perfect summer addition. A stroll along Ruston Way with a scoop of ice cream in hand sounds pretty hard to beat,” wrote The Essential Pantry, a kitchen-goods and ingredient boutique in University Place.
“Genius!” said another.
More than a couple mused of affogatos on the water.
Of course, Ice Cream Social, a Tacoma-born and still-based brand, has a bustling shop at Point Ruston, approximately 1.7 miles from the pier — but it would take another 35 minutes to walk there.
Guests had been asking for ice cream basically since Wide Awake took over the building, managed by Parks Tacoma, in February 2025, according to a barista.
A neon sign in the window now advertises the cold treat. The walkup-window cafe on Ruston Way had already scooped through a handful of tubs of Cacade Glacier, a Eugene, Oregon-based purveyor seen at shops around the Pacific Northwest, and had to re-up.
Initial flavors included Honey Churro, Moosetracks and Huckleberry Heaven, per the initial announcement post, which noted that options would rotate. On June 22 the cafe had four flavors, including Death by Chocolate, Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup and Maui Waui, a sherbet version of the classic POG combo (passionfruit, orange, guava).
A single scoop in a waffle cone or cup goes for $6.
Wide Awake owner Victoria Lovett started the brand as a drive-thru shop at 4002 Center St. in 2020 and later added a second at 4002 Center St. Espresso drinks range from the standards to signatures like a Brown Sugar or Smoked Sea Salt latte, plus matcha and energy spritzers. Seasonal specials include a strawberry rhubarb matcha and blueberry-lemon with brown sugar and house graham-cracker cold foam. On the sustenance side, snag a breakfast burrito, breakfast sandwiches, a chicken-bacon melt or a pastry to enjoy on the pier with your coffee and ice cream.
Wide Awake joins another daytime destination in Tacoma on the frozen treat train: Howdy Bagel on South Tacoma Way partnered with Frankie & Jo’s, a plant-based ice cream company based in Seattle, to scoop at the shop every Friday and Saturday night and Sunday afternoons.
Wide Awake Cafe - Ruston Way
- 3427 Ruston Way, Tacoma, 253-414-5016, instagram.com/wideawakecafetacoma
- Monday-Friday 6 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday-Sunday 7 a.m.-5 p.m.
- Details: walkup-window coffee shop at Les Davis Pier now scooping Cascade Glacier ice cream, $6/cone, flavors rotate